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From Frankfurt/Oder to Europe

When the 20-year-old C. P. E. Bach enrolled as a student of law at Alma mater Viadrina in Frankfurt in 1734, who would have thought that he would become one of Europe’s most distinguished musicians, revered by the First Viennese School and countless others. His later encyclopaedic oeuvre already began to take shape in Frankfurt, including piano pieces and sonatas, chamber music, cembalo concertos and ariosos.

The city of Frankfurt (Oder) now pays its dues to its former, famous student. The concert hall, which was named after Bach’s second son in 1970, provides the centre for such activities, featuring Bach concerts and matinées by the local state orchestra, Frankfurter Singakademie and many others. Viadrina European University will be providing Bach scholars with valuable information on 18th century life in Frankfurt. Musikgesellschaft C. P. E. Bach Frankfurt (Oder) e.V. is dedicated to publicising the life and work of Bach, hosting chamber concerts and publishing research in the “Bach-Konzepte” periodicals, as well as supervising the sole existing permanent C. P. E. Bach exhibition. A recent discovery reveals the city’s most prominent citizen, Heinrich von Kleist, to be the grand-nephew of Ewald Christian von Kleist, whose poems C. P. E. Bach set to music.